Nabard to breach Rs 5 lakh crore asset size in FY20
New Delhi: The state-owned National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) to cross the mark of Rs 5 lakh crore asset size in the financial year 2019-20.
While addressing on the 38th Foundation Day in the national capital chairman of NABARD Harsh Kumar Bhanwala said that the bank is further expected to borrow around Rs 55,000 crore for its long term funding requirements during the year. It is to support various agricultural and rural development schemes of the government, Bhanwala asserted. Official data shows that during the financial year 2018-19, the bank's balance sheet ended up at Rs 4.87 lakh crore, with a net profit of Rs 3,365 lakh crore.
The programme was addressed by MoS Finance Anurag Thakur- highlighted the need to attract youth to agriculture and build a technology-driven ecosystem for agri-entrepreneurship and called for concerted efforts to create a large base of agricultural start-ups. "India needs to create agricultural entrepreneurs for which skilling and tech-enabled services are crucial. Agri-based e-commerce platforms, farm monitoring, linking with fintech will help make youths become agripreneurs. While the Government is supporting the sector significantly, the public-private partnership is essential for boosting the agriculture start-up culture in India, which could be a new engine for employment," the minister added. The chairman further said that NABARD would also boost innovations and farm entrepreneurship by promoting 100 agricultural and rural start-ups during the ongoing financial year and would infuse around Rs 1000 crore into agri and rural start-ups ecosystem.
Besides, the rural bank has further taken some initiatives of the Centre and State Governments with loan assistance, programmes like Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), NABARD Infrastructure Development Assistance (NIDA), Long Term Irrigation Fund (LTIF), Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF), Food Processing Fund (FPF) together would result in disbursement of over 50,000 crore for building roads, bridges, dams, warehouses, food processing units, etc.
NABARD has further supported the promotion of around 4200 farmer producer organisations (FPOs) of collectivisation of farmers, aiming to achieve collective bargaining power to small and marginal farmers in procuring inputs, carrying out agricultural operations and marketing agricultural produce.
"The Budget announcement of the formation of 10,000 FPOs will help boost this movement. The bank is also supporting the promotion of producer organisations in the off-farm sector. 25 such OFPOs have been promoted so far," an official statement mentioned.
